Book Review: The Girl Who Became a Beatle

Meet Regina, the protagonist of The Girl Who Became a Beatle and teenage frontwoman of a Beatles cover band, the Caverns. The band is the center of Regina’s life and when they break up, Regina does what any teenager would do: she wishes she were someone else. Regina soon finds herself fronting the most famous band in the world: a world in which the Beatles never existed; a world in which she owns the entire Beatles songbook. While Regina initially embraces her new role in the universe, she quickly comes to realize the drawbacks of fame and being considered a genius, especially when that genius actually belongs to someone else.

Author Greg Taylor keeps the pace fast and the prose simple, making The Girl Who Became a Beatle a good read for late middle-schoolers and high-schoolers alike, not to mention any Beatle fanatic who would enjoy every clever nod to the Fab Four’s career. - Nick (Downtown)

Book Review: Dust of 100 Dogs

Somewhere in the 17-century Caribbean, just as she is about to escape with her true love, feared pirate Emer Morrisey is murdered and mysteriously cursed with the “dust of one hundred dogs.” Three hundred years later, teenager Saffron Adams agonizes over disappointing her overbearing parents with the news that she does not intend to go to college; after all, it would be unreasonable to expect them to understand her desire to seek out buried treasure (much less her desire to torture every typical teenager she encounters). The reader soon learns that Emer is destined to live the lives of one hundred dogs before returning to this world in human form, as Saffron. The Dust of 100 Dogs, by A.S. King, follows the lives of cynical Saffron and (initially) naive Emer in alternating chapters interspersed with anecdotes about what can be learned from living as a dog. The result is a highly original and entertaining YA novel that should appeal to fans of fantasy, historical fiction and more typical young adult “problem” fiction.

In January, 2011, A.S. King was awarded a Printz honor for her most recent novel, Please Ignore Vera Dietz. - Nick (Downtown)

Book Review: Please Ignore Vera Dietz

We're always hearing that young adult books are often writen for adults as well as youth. Probably many of you, like me, think, "Sure, but I already have an adult reading list built for eternity." It was not until the young adult fiction writer A.S. King came to speak at a staff training inservice that my eternal reading list was put aside. When I witnessed the honesty and depth of this author as she told her story of life, A.S. King became number one on my reading list!

In selecting Please Ignore Vera Dietz, I was influenced by a long list of book awards: the Edgar Award, the Michael C. Printz Award, and the Best Young Adult Book Award from the American Library Association. I figured this novel just had to be good. Well, it wasn't good - it was fantastic! Based on the interaction of a father trying to raise his teenage daughter, this young adult novel eteched a notch in my reading life that will not be forgotten. Vera, the teenage daughter, tells the story. A story about her mother walking away from marraige and motherhood. A story about losing one's best friend and regaining love for a father you were very close to hating for life! A story about understanding yourself to the point of becoming one with your inner spirit. For me, Please Ignore Vera Dietz was not only soul searching but charmingly funny, full of life, and a book you won't be able to ignore. - Henry (Downtown)